


Unexpected News

by JKlog



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Episode Related, M/M, Pre-Slash, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 13:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13705908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JKlog/pseuds/JKlog
Summary: Laura gives Jim some unexpected news.





	Unexpected News

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after “Vow of silence”. I assumed that abortion was illegal in the state of Washington, because I don’t know if it is. Another thing I don’t know is about the paternity leave, I assumed it was a month.

Laura McCarthy had two problems. One, she was in jail, and two, she was pregnant. And Jim Ellison was the father. The cop who had put her in jail.

Although she had used protection when she’d had sex with Ellison, it was evident that it had failed. If she wasn’t in jail, she would have had an abortion, but as it was, she had no choice but to have the baby. But she didn’t intend to keep it.

She asked to make a phone call. She was going to talk very seriously with her child's father.

 

* * *

 

It was Saturday afternoon, Jim and Blair were sitting on the couch, watching a basketball game on television, each one with a beer in their hand. They had just arrived from the failed ‘rest’ in St. Sebastian. Suddenly, the phone rang. Jim got up from the couch and answered.

"Ellison."

"Hi, Jim. Can you imagine who is talking to you?"

"No. Who is it?"

"Laura. Laura McCarthy."

Jim paled. He was silent for a minute.

"What do you want, Laura?"

"I want to get out of this hell, but I guess you can’t give me that." The tone of his voice was ironic and hostile. "But I don’t want to waste more time talking to you, and I have little. I'm pregnant, Jim, and you're the father."

"WHAT?!"

Upon hearing this, Blair stood next to Jim and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Who is it, Jim?" Jim signaled him to keep quiet. Laura continued.

"What you heard, Jim, and I have no intention of staying with the boy or the girl. So you have to take charge."

"Are you so sure that I am the father?"

"Yes, I am, because I hadn’t been with any man for months but you. I'm not an as easy woman as you suppose, Ellison."

Jim was thoughtful for a moment.

"Ellison? Are you there?"

"I have to think about it, Laura."

"Okay, you have 8 months to think about it. Either you keep the child or I give it up for adoption. Think about it."

"Okay, we'll be in touch."

"See you soon, Jim."

"Goodbye, Laura."

Jim listened while Laura cut the connection. Then he pressed the button on the cordless phone and dropped down on the couch, holding his head with his hands.

"What happened, Jim? Who was that Laura?"

Jim looked up. "Laura McCarthy."

"The one of the pheromones? The thief?"

"The same."

"And what did she want?"

"She’s pregnant, Chief."

"Damn!" Blair said, astonished. "And she says you're the father?"

Jim nodded. He felt overcome by that situation. Not knowing what to do. Definitely, he was going to have to think about it very seriously. Above all, he was going to have to talk to Blair. He was part of his life now.

"She says that either I keep the child or she gives it up for adoption."

"Jim, you can’t let her give it up for adoption, man! It’s your child! Also, it carries your genes. It can be a Sentinel."

"I hadn’t thought of that. You're right. I can’t let another family take care of a little Sentinel."

"That's it, man!" said Blair, with a glowing smile. But his smile faded as he began to think about the consequences of the arrival of a little Ellison in the loft. Jim was going to need more space. He was going to have to leave.

"Jim, you're going to need more space. I will start immediately to search for another place for me."

Jim frowned. "What did you say?"

"When the baby comes, you're going to need a room for him or her. Don’t worry, man, I'm not going to abandon you. We just won’t live together anymore. But we will continue working together, as always. We'll adapt right away, man. "

"Are you going to leave me when I'm going to need you more, Chief?"

Blair stood with his mouth open, astonished. Then, he said, "Think about it, Jim. Where are you going to put the baby, if not in that room?" And he pointed to his room under the stairs. "Also, I was supposed to stay for a week, I think I've spent too much time here, it's about time I move on."

Jim felt panic about losing his Guide.

"Chief, surely there is another solution. We can move to a bigger house."

"You? Leave the loft? This is your home, man!"

Jim wanted to tell him that the loft would not be a home without Blair in it, but he felt a lump in his throat that prevented him from speaking. The situation was getting out of control and he did not like it at all. But he had to talk. He cleared his throat.

"Blair, do you want to leave? Because if that's what you want, I won’t stop you." Somehow, that wasn’t what he wanted to say.

"It's not about what I want. It's what you need."

"But you want to leave?"

Blair dropped his head, his long hair hiding his face. With a whisper that only a Sentinel could hear, he said, "No."

"Then, we don’t talk about it anymore. You don’t go. We’ll look for another solution. We have time, eight months left."

Blair slowly raised his head and smiled. "You don’t want me to leave?"

"No, Chief. How am I going to take care alone of a little Sentinel? He or she is going to need a Guide, and that's you."

"We don’t know if he or she is going to manifest having your same abilities, but I understand you."

It was an irrefutable logic, so Blair didn’t argue anymore.

 

* * *

 

Several months passed and Jim visited Laura to see how she was doing with the pregnancy. Apparently, there was no problem. The ultrasound revealed that it was a girl. Jim told Laura that he would need a DNA test to prove his paternity. She told him there was no problem, that she was sure he was the father.

The day of the birth arrived and Jim went to the hospital where they had Laura, under security measures. He didn’t want to be in the delivery room, that would be too much. He stayed in the waiting room, with Blair. A doctor told him that his daughter was born by normal delivery, that she was very healthy and that in a half hour they would be able to see her.

When they went to see her, she was in a crib with a sign that said 'Grace Ellison', among other cribs with other babies. There was no doubt that she was Laura's daughter, she had the same red hair. Her eyes were closed, so they didn’t know what color they were.

Then, they took the baby to the room where Laura was. Jim went to talk to her. He noticed that Laura was not looking at her daughter.

"I don’t want her, Jim. Take her."

Jim couldn’t understand how that woman could have so little maternal instinct, or rather, total lack of it. But, after all, she was a criminal. He hoped Grace didn’t inherit that from her mother.

"I'll take her with me as soon as I get the result of the paternity test."

"It's okay, but I'm not going to nurse her."

"As you wish, Laura."

Jim approached the crib that had the baby and for the first time he could see her eyes. They were arctic blue, like his. Maybe she was his daughter. Maybe.

 

* * *

 

A week later, Jim met Laura, who had the baby in her arms, in front of a judge in a jail office. The judge handed Jim the paternity test. Grace was his daughter. Jim smiled. He felt happy. His genes had been passed on to another generation.

They prepared the papers in which Laura gave total custody of her daughter to James J. Ellison. They signed, and without further paperwork, the girl passed into Jim's arms. In that instant, Jim felt the weight of an enormous responsibility on his shoulders. That girl was going to depend on him, absolutely.

Laura left, escorted by two guards, without looking at her daughter a second time. Jim wondered how he was going to explain that to his daughter when she grew old enough to understand. Understand that her mother had rejected her. It was going to be very hard.

 

* * *

 

Blair was waiting for Jim outside the office. When seeing Jim carrying the girl, he realized that his friend was a father. He received them with a warm smile.

Together they got out of jail, and Jim handed the keys to the truck to Blair, who then drove to 852 Prospect Avenue. Jim had wanted to be sure of his fatherhood, although deep inside he knew he was Grace's father, before moving out. But they had already been seeing places, and there was a house that they liked more than others. Soon they were going to have to make their dreams come true.

They entered the loft, and Jim put the girl in the crib that was in Blair's former room. She was deeply asleep. Now Blair was going to have to sleep on the couch, for a while.

The next day, Jim went through the paperwork and received one month of paternity leave. Immediately he went to buy diapers and other things that he would need to take care of his daughter. When he reached the loft, he opened the door and saw his partner giving his daughter a bottle of milk. The scene filled him with a tenderness he had never felt before.

He realized that he was sharing something more with Blair, and that, somehow, they were both going to be Grace's parents.


End file.
